What do I need to start LIVE SOUND

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nick The Man
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Nick The Man

Nick The Man

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I want to start offering a live sound service. I'm curious as to what I need to start gaining some experience. I have a mixer already, I know I need some speakers and some amps. Cables too. I know that there is alot more to it than just having the best gear. So if anyone with some experience could shed some light on the topic that would be pretty alright with me. Maybe there is some good links on the topic that some of you have bookmarked?


Some things I know I should learn:

Understanding Watts-Ohms-All that shit.
How to not blow up your speakers.
I know some, but more about compression.
Which way to route things on the mixer for live sound.
I know theres more.
 
Forgot to mention micrphones. I have quite a few now. Most would apply for live sound.
 
Buy the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook as an indication of what you might need to understand in order to get into live sound.

Lots of stuff in there to get your head around.

Other than that, get experience yourself by offering to mix your mates during rehearsals or whatever using your own gear.

Dags
 
Depends on how big of gigs you want to do. Lots of venues already have an in-house PA as it is.

But, if you want something you can set up and break down, you're looking at power amplifiers (two or three at least). Also looking at large, high output PA speakers and subwoofers. And a microphone preamp with a mixer. Thats just scratching the surface :]
 
You can start to learn it all by helping someone else who is already doing it. You may have to work dirt cheap for a while because most sound guys generally don’t make much money working in the local bars, pubs, and nightclubs. Although once you start getting bigger venues and events the pay can get very respectable.

Spend lots and lots of time reading in this forum. ----> http://www.prosoundweb.com/forums/

It can be a never ending wealth of information. They also have what they call "Study Hall" pages. It's almost like a free school for live sound guys.

Good luck,
RawDepth
 
The live sound industry can be pretty cutthroat. Everytime I start thinking about how much I am spending on gear at my studio, then I just remind myself of how much gets spent at the live sound company that I run. Not only that, but we aren't even that large of a company. Even when just a fairly small rig goes out we are still looking at between a $50,000 and $75,000 rig often times. By the time you factor in console, FOH rack with some reverbs, a delay, some gates, some comps, at least 6 channels of graphic EQ, CD player, 24 channel 150 or more foot snake, Main amp rack, monitor amp rack, mains, monitors, mics, mic cables, stands, power cables, AC distro, speaker cables and anything else that I might need, it all adds up. Just the mic stands for instance. If you don't buy something nice and heavy duty like the K&M stands, you will be rebuying stands every few shows. The K$M's run at least $50 each, and for most end buyers can even be closer to $75 each. If you factor in just 12 tall and 8 smaller stands, you are looking at $1000 right there, assuming the $50 number. Add another $2000 for a BASIC mic pack, $300 in mic cables for basic cables, $5000 for cheap amps in a three way stereo main system and a 4 mix monitor rack (passive wedges), $1k per cab on the mains and monitors, you can see how it all adds up pretty fast. Factor in road cases, transportation, your time and labor, anyone elses you may need etc... and it can be pretty rough:(
 
Probably plenty of good-sized sound companies in western NY to work for. Don't worry about blowing up speakers for awhile if you work for someone else- they won't be throwing you in front of a console any time soon.:p
 
On the other side, you can make some spare change if you stay small-time for younger bands, like HS guys and college bands. A lot of those bands have never seen a rider, and won't ask for much. They may have never even had monitors before.

Still, a half dozen wedges, a couple of sticks, and a reasonable console--16 channels could do for a start, cables, snake, etc . . . it's still probably $3-5K min, and it will take a long time to pay back at $100 a show . . .

Edit: it's probably more profitable if you can combine live recording with doing sound . . . get something like a masterlink and a burner and burn CDs right at the show, that could pay off much faster if you get a healthy chunk.
 
mshilarious said:
On the other side, you can make some spare change if you stay small-time for younger bands, like HS guys and college bands. A lot of those bands have never seen a rider, and won't ask for much. They may have never even had monitors before.

Still, a half dozen wedges, a couple of sticks, and a reasonable console--16 channels could do for a start, cables, snake, etc . . . it's still probably $3-5K min, and it will take a long time to pay back at $100 a show . . .

Edit: it's probably more profitable if you can combine live recording with doing sound . . . get something like a masterlink and a burner and burn CDs right at the show, that could pay off much faster if you get a healthy chunk.
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And also, promoting with engineering, so that you get control of all the money, and can pay the bands. Instead of someone else making all the money and only paying you $100.
 
pandamonk said:
And also, promoting with engineering, so that you get control of all the money, and can pay the bands. Instead of someone else making all the money and only paying you $100.
Click to expand...

That's very good. That is the reality of business--either you compete on quality, which is expensive to do, or price, which isn't very profitable, or you create your own market through cross-selling opportunities.
 
My band has our own PA/sound system which we use for fairly small venues. I think of it as a minimum system. We have around $6000 invested in it, it scares me to think of what a pro sound system would cost.
 
Just my opinion, but being a sound guy that hauls & sets up his own equipment is pretty much a thankless job that is a real pain in the ass for the money you make. If you don't already have a system I'd say it's a bad investment.


Cheery guy I know:D


F.S.
 
Skip the FOH sound and be a DJ.
DJ's make a lot more per night out than live sound for a band.

What I don't get is that a DJ has a hell of a lot less money invested in equipment than a someone running sound for a band and makes a lot more $$$ each night out. And a lot of them use crappy MP3's downloaded from the net..:eek::eek:
 
timboZ said:
Skip the FOH sound and be a DJ.
DJ's make a lot more per night out than live sound for a band.

What I don't get is that a DJ has a hell of a lot less money invested in equipment than a someone running sound for a band and makes a lot more $$$ each night out. And a lot of them use crappy MP3's downloaded from the net..:eek::eek:
Click to expand...


Yep "Nick's DJ and Karaoke service" will bag you more money for less investment and work. Check it out the competition though.


F.S.
 
Holy shit, I can't stand DJ's. They all have the same fucking voice. ALL OF THEM SOUND THE SAME.

Anyway, I never understood how DJ's make so much money either. It doesn't make sense when you compare the amount of work that goes into a live show vs a DJ. It's rediculous.
 
First thing i would contribute: I don't do LIVE SOUND. I do live sound. just a suggestion.


;) i'm kidding btw
 
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